Pershore 36pts, Earlsdon 3

PERSHORE guaranteed at least runners-up spot and a place in the play-offs on the strength of Saturday's emphatic victory.

This has been a terrific season with the Piddle Parkers playing at their highest level ever and saving this tremendous performance for their last home league match.

Playing into a strong wind, Pershore kept the ball in hand, keeping possession while Earlsdon, when they did have the ball, didn't use the wind intelligently.

The front five had a marvellous match and, from a scrum midfield, a ball won against the head was quickly shipped wide, an inside pass to Adrian Hanson, and he danced inside the full back to touch down. Robin Haines converted.

Earlsdon responded with a penalty, but, with Pershore having the lions share of possession, another score before half-time was inevitable.

A long line-out was won and popped to Carl Evans on the peel and the quick ruck was won. It was taken on by Ben Pullen, who had another tremendous game, and his perfectly timed pass to James Martin was taken at pace and his power and guile took him all the way to the line. Haines again converted.

The second half was one-way traffic with Earlsdon constantly driven back in the tackle, where the backs, in particular, were immense and the visitors never looked like scoring.

On the other hand, Pershore's finishing and patient build-up play was top quality. Ian Hurley made another blockbusting run into a packed defence and quick ball spread wide gave Andy Jenkinson space to touch down.

This was followed by the first of Marcus Whyte's double, again after excellent approach work.

Steve Holmes also touched down after. Faced with a one-on-one situation, he simply handed off an attempted tackler and scored. Whyte completed the scoring when the forwards drove him over in the far corner.

It was impossible to pick a man of the match on a day when every player played superbly.